Journal of the Tribute
by Sir Bagelio
Summary: Starting before the Hunger Games, a 15-year-old boy named Jay finds out about the punishment that the Capitol has been creating for the districts, and attempts to stop it. He begins to record his findings in this journal. Rated T because I can, MUAHAHAHA.
1. Introduction

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm going to be taking a break from Intense Peeta for a while and write an actual serious fanfic instead. Here goes. R&R!

No matter how many times I tried to comb down my messy brown hair after sleeping on it, it just came back up, like a resistant spring. My hair is pretty unsettlable, even after adding water to it. I walked over to the window and looked outside, a habit of mine every time I'm trying to get ready for the day, as I tried to get my hair to settle. I expected to see the same usual things: The trees that are dotted around behind my house, the green shimmering blades of grass after the morning's rain, and the woods through the gate in which we had to hunt. But there was more that I saw.

There were tens of hovercrafts flying above across our district. I forgot about my hair and quickly ran downstairs and outside to see what all of this was about. The hovercrafts were flying away into the horizon. I just shrugged and walked back inside, lazily slapped some water on my hair, got dressed, and walked back downstairs. Just then, I heard an explosion and screaming in the distance, followed by more explosions. I ran outside and made out smoke and the faint figures of hovercrafts dropping bombs in the distance. District 13 was getting punished for its uprising. A warning to all of the other districts that the Capitol would not give pretty ends to those who defied it.

I heard our house's TV turn on automatically to give an "Important Announcement!" I ran back inside to see the TV, followed by my little brother, Alan, who just ran downstairs, apparently aroused by the faint explosions. Our parents were killed by Peacekeepers when they tried to form an escape plan through the forest when the Capitol was treating us poorly. Sure, District 9 people could hunt and survive in the wild well, but it wouldn't take long for the Capitol to track us down and kill us or turn us into Avoxes.

President Han appeared on screen and said, "District 13 is being bombed due its uprising. I want you to never, ever due something like that! We don't want to hurt any of you, except if you're threating to us." We knew that was a lie, because the Capitol still treats us like dirt no matter how peaceful we try to be. We're like slaves to them. "Keep this as a lesson," President Han said. "And as a reminder, we will give every district an annual punishment. Now, don't defy us!" The announcement ended and the TV turned off.

That happened only yesterday.

I am Jay, a 15-year old male from District 9. I have just started writing in this journal. I will figure out what kind of 'punishment' that the Capitol will give us and try to stop it. I will record any of my findings in here. For now, I need to rest. I've been feeling post-traumatic and sickly. I'll write what I find out when I wake up tomorrow. 


	2. Entry 1

The sound of Peacekeepers chatting outside aroused me. I got up and looked through the blinds of the window and saw two Peacekeepers walking and chatting.

"The Slicing sounds creative," one of them said. "Letting the blood of earlier victims pour onto the floor of the chamber, letting later victims take in their last, tons of fear as they are walked in and guillotined. But it's just not..."

"Just not what?" Asked the other Peacekeeper.

"Just not... exciting," answered the Peacekeeper. "The voting has narrowed down to three choices, and we could be picking arena-based combat among the district's selves. Think of all of that excitement!"

So far I knew what two of the three punishments could be. People could be guillotined over a pool of blood or fight amongst themselves in an arena. Neither of them sounded good. I think the arena combat was going to win all of the votes, but I won't know until the voting is over. If I ever will know.

The Peacekeepers were out of my earshot now, so I walked out of my house and sneaked along, eavesdropping. I had to get kind of close, because their voices were dropping to whispers.

"The one who led the uprising in District 13," one of the Peacekeepers whispered. "Abbot. He knew about what we were going to use as punishments. He probably sent some sort of warnings to the districts on information about evading us."

So Abbot is the one who led the uprising. I could bet he's dead now. Dang it. But maybe, if I can get to the ruins of District 13, I might find some clues. I seriously doubt that being a possibility, though. I would have to walk by foot since the train is guarded by Peacekeepers, so that would take forever. But it would be possible, if I dedicated a good amount of my life to it.

I've heard enough, so I turned around and headed back home, making an effort to conceal my footprints. I don't tell Alan about the punishments that the Capitol may give us in fear of frightening him. He's only ten years old.

I think about the Capitol and its horrible doings. There's the possibility of the Slicing and the arena combat. I don't know the third punishment yet, but it could be just as horrible. I'm not sure what to think of all this, but I'm definitely considering getting out of here.

The next morning, I woke up and decided I would have to run. We didn't have parents to protect us anymore. I told Alan about the punishments. He was very afraid, but if we were going to run away, I would have to give him a reason, otherwise he would think I'm a lunatic for randomly suggesting that we run away for no apparent reason. However, he would see the issue of the Capitol constantly harming us. So, now he knows why we should run away. The Slicing, the arena combat, and that third possibility. But if we run away, there would always be that risk of getting caught by the Capitol. We can't just sit here, or we'd be killed.

Now it came to me! We can't just sit here, we have to DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS! But what? The districts were in no state for another uprising, especially after what happened to District 13. Running away was an option, but that would just prove we're cowards and the Capitol would laugh, mocking us. So I come to this conclusion.

Find out what punishment the Capitol is actually planning to execute, and somehow stop it.

I have no idea how I'm going to do that yet, but I'm going to come up with a plan soon enough. I hope.

I hear the static of the TV automatically turn on for another "Special Announcement!" President Han appeared on screen just like last time, but the look on his face was sober this time. "The punishment will be decided tomrrow. We know many of you have been eavesdropping. The Peacekeepers have been talking to attract those who may be of threats to us and try to stop us. The eavesdroppers have been caught on tape, and will be executed in two days." Pictures of some people hiding and listening in on Peacekeeper conversations flash on screen. A female and a male from District 1. A stocky guy from from District 2. A 16-year-old boy from District 3. A male from District 4. A girl from District 5. Two similar looking boys from Districts 6 and 7. Me. Three boys from District 10. Two thin, underfed boys from District 11. One girl from District 12. That was all. The TV then shut off automatically since we didn't have it on before the "Special Announcement!"

The Capitol was seeking us out. The districts will be hopeless without us now that we're a living warning. Now it's our time to die. 


	3. Entry 2

I couldn't sleep at all last night. Especially with what President Han said in Entry #1's last announcement. I've thought that writing this journal was a good idea because if I died, someone else might find it and continue where I left off. If they could find my journal, that is. I should put it somewhere obvious when I'm sleeping, but keep it out of sight of the Capitol during the morning. If I'm killed during my sleep, then someone from the districts might easily be able to find my journal. From now on, I'm going to set my journal right on the desk beside my bed, in clear sight.

One time last night, I considered commiting suicide, so I began to walk downstairs to get a knife. However, Alan heard me and woke up.

"No, brother!" Alan said. "If you're alive tomorrow, you could at least try to stop what's going to happen, because either way, you're... going to die." He fell forwards against me and cried. I could try, but my death would be more gruesome if I didn't kill myself now. But Alan had a point. Trying is better than giving up. I walked the crying Alan back into his bed and waited beside his bed until he cried himself asleep. I felt sorry for him, thinking about losing a brother for that and having to live like that for the rest of his life, but casualties aren't uncommon nowadays, and some things must be risked.

Now I'm wondering if what those Peacekeepers said were true. Is there really the possibility of a Slicing and arena-based combat? I doubt it. President Han said that they fed us eavesdroppers false information, just like we fed the Capitol false information via Jabberjay. It's not like it all matters to me anymore, because I'm going to get killed in a matter of hours, anyways.

I hear the TV flash on. Another "Special Announcement!" I know that it was something to do with the punishment, but I don't want to acknowledge it anymore.

"The Slicing won the vote, and twenty-four children will be executed in a guillotine above bloody water annualy. This really ought to make sure you don't forget about uprising!" President Han's voice rings through the house. I can't believe it. The Slicing won the vote? I thought the Capitol was leaning towards arena-based combat more. "The eavesdroppers will be executed by the Slicer, to show how horrible it is. Thank you for your attention."

I am going to get cut in two by the Slicer. Perfect, just the way that I wanted to die, having sharp metal ease through my flesh and organs. Yuck. I hear President Han say that a clip is going to show what the reaction to the final result was like. I sighed and walked to the TV to look at it just as it appeared on the screen.

The people of the Capitol who were voting at the arena-based combat stand were shouting and shaking their fists at the people at the Slicer voting stand, who were snickering. You could always count on Capitol people when it comes to having short tempers. They don't know how to want, they always get.

As the camera panned back to the right quickly, I made out a word on the arena-based combat stand. Just one word. The whole thing looked like two or three words. However, the camera was already panned to the third stand, who didn't seem to care very much. I'm sure I saw the word "Games" on the arena-based combat voting stand. Perhaps this arena-based combat is called The Gladiator Games? Or The Death Games? Or, perhaps, something that has been threatening the districts for years, hunger, as in The Hunger Games? Anyway, the Games don't sound too nice. They're most likely much better than the Slicing, though. The Capitol people only chose the Slicer to make us go through as much pain as possible to punish us the worst as possible. The camera was still panned to the third stand, so I didn't know what the entire name of the Games really was.

The third stand! I got closer to the screen and squinted. I made out "Poisonous Food Tricks" where someone was half-heartedly holding up a sign of a person trying to pick between poisonous food and only one piece of safe food since the voting is over. If he didn't pick fast enough, fumes would be emitted where he's standing and would enter his system and kill him. The Games and the Poisonous Food Tricks don't matter anymore since the Slicer was already chosen. I wanted anything but the Slicer, but now we ended up with it.

The TV shut off and I sighed. So there's the Slicing, the Games, and the Poisonous Food Tricks. Apparently, the Peacekeepers' conversation wasn't false information. It was actually true. I'm sure the other eavesdroppers heard the same thing. The Capitol's trying to scare us with TRUE information. It doesn't matter if we know because they're going to kill us off anyways.

Kill us off? We might be the districts' last hope for defeating the Capitol. If I could somehow save the other eavesdroppers and stop the Slicing, then we could form a plan to stop the punishment and wipe out the Capitol so we could live free. The tough part is actually doing that. The Capitol has far more advanced weapons than us. Even if we could manage to stop the Slicing, we'd be killed and the Capitol would begin either the Poisonous Food Tricks or the Games. If we succeed, I'm leaning more towards the Games, because Poisonous Food Tricks messes with our instincts because we're all so eager for food, making things much more lethal. If something isn't done about all this soon, then the districts would be under control of the Capitol for a long time.

I need to lay in bed and think about this. I'll report back to my journal tomorrow. 


End file.
